FUTURE OF JAPAN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20510, 11 January 1935, Page 8

FUTURE OF JAPAN.

Signs There for Those Who Care to Read. RECENT FIGHTING. Interesting observations on the East, particularly in regard to Japanese aggression. were made this morning by c Mr T. M. Haslett, who has returned t for a brief stay in the city where j eleven years ago he was on the staff of the Christchurch Y.M.C.A. Mr Has- < lett was on the staff of the Shanghai s Y.M.C.A. during the Sino-Japanese 1 clash of 1932 and watched the fighting ’ under the best possible conditions— ' from the roof of the \ .M.C.A. build- 4 ings. In the first place. Mr Ilaslett said. ( it had to be understood that it was ' essential for any foreigner in China to establish friendly relations with the j Chinese. The day of the “ dominating ” white man was over. That type of individual was an anachronism, and there were two factors responsible for this loss of “ prestige.”—“ I hate that word,” Mr Ilaslett said. The first reason was the defeat of the Russians by the Japanese in 1904. and -the second was the spectacle of the European nations flying at each other s throats in the Great War and calling on the coloured races to help them. The Americans were the first to realise the new outlook of the Chinese and establish friendly relations by building schools and in other way 6. They were now reaping the benefit in » trade. Many people were familiar with the great undertaking by which keroc.ene lamps were introduced into Chinese homes. There has also been remarkable progress in other ways. Fifteen years ago there were not ten miles of motoring road outside the cities. Now there were 50.000 miles of good roads, and one found American buses using American petrol spinning along them in out-of-the-way parts. Both the air services operating in China were using American machines. The Chapei Battle. Speaking of the fighting in Shanghai in 1932, Mr Haslett said that the Chinese, under their six-foot general, Tsai-Ting-Kai, put up an amazing fight. They held the Japanese at Chapei for five weeks, using rifles and an occasional machine-gun against modern arms which included aeroplanes and tanks. Peace was engineered, largely through the efforts of the League of Nations, but it was a tragic thing that the Chinese received no compensation for the damage, which was estimated at about £100.000.000. 160,000 houses alone being destroyed. Mr Haslett said that the Japanese defied the Shanghai municipal authorities in regard to using the interj national settlement as a base of operations against the Chinese. They landed 7000 marines at one of the wharves. They closed schools, across the gate of one of which appeared the legend: “Closed by Order of the Great Japanese Navy.” “ Protests were made but the combined international forces were not strong enough to make any definite move,” Mr Ilaslett said. “As one result of this fighting, which even the Japanese now admit was ill-advised, 10.000 civilians lost their lives.” Mr Haslett said that the Japanese became very inflated and held the view that they were the only nation that could save Eastern culture, and Western culture as well. It was true that they had been given some provocation » by the Chinese, but they refused to take advantage of their opportunity to deal with the matter through the League of Nations, of which they were a member. “ Australians are now concerned about the operations of Japanese vessels in their northern waters,” added Mr Haslett. “They have established special fast patrols from Darwin, but they will not be satisfied until this area is patrolled from the air. I am not going to make any predictions about what will happen in the East, but the signs are there for those who care to read them.”